All posts tagged: indian chess news

Vishy Anand not running for FIDE Deputy President post as Arkady Dvorkovich announces re-election bid

Vishy Anand not running for FIDE Deputy President post as Arkady Dvorkovich announces re-election bid

Published by Webster

3 min readMumbaiJun 29, 2026 04:04 PM IST Incumbent FIDE president Arkady Dvorkovich has announced that he will be running for a third term as the chief of the global governing body of chess when the elections happen in September this year, but five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand will not be contesting for the Deputy President role that he held in the previous administration. “Vishy will not be running again as Deputy President. However, he remains a valued part of our main team and will continue working closely with me on strengthening relations with federations, understanding their needs, and supporting their priorities,” Dvorkovich told The Indian Express. Timur Turlov, President of the Kazakhstan Chess Federation, President of the International School Chess Federation and founder and CEO of Freedom Holding Corporation, will run alongside Dvorkovich as the candidate for FIDE Deputy President. “We are grateful to have the backing, experience and friendship of the great Vishy Anand. He has given so much to chess – both as a player and as an official, and he continues …

Gukesh: ‘Always amazed at the character Vaishali akka shows at events’ | Chess News

Gukesh: ‘Always amazed at the character Vaishali akka shows at events’ | Chess News

Published by Webster

3 min readMay 1, 2026 08:18 AM IST World champion D Gukesh had praised the character of Vaishali Rameshbabu, who earlier this month, won the Women’s Candidates tournament and will also fight for the Women’s World Championship. This means that while Gukesh defends his crown against Javokhir Sindarov, Vaishali will try to topple Ju Wenjun. Gukesh experienced a rollercoaster of emotions at the previous Candidates tournament in Toronto where he won despite being a first-timer. Vaishali was also playing in her first Candidates that year, and after losing four games in a row, bounced back by winning her last five games on the trot, which almost got her the title. Two years later, in Cyprus, Vaishali managed to survive her own rollercoaster journey to secure the title. Vaishali thus became only the second woman from India to earn a shot at the Women’s World Chess Championship after Koneru Humpy. “I was following her match in the last round of the Candidates. The open section was already done, so I was following Vaishali akka’s game. I …

Vishy Anand’s advice to Gukesh: ‘Lock yourself in room, and just ignore criticism… but some of it is legitimate’ | Chess News

Vishy Anand’s advice to Gukesh: ‘Lock yourself in room, and just ignore criticism… but some of it is legitimate’ | Chess News

Published by Webster

3 min readApr 21, 2026 06:32 PM IST Current world champion D Gukesh has experienced a wretched run of form ever since he became the youngest world champion in chess history in December 2024. Not only have results been dire, Gukesh has also lost about 51 rating points from where he was when he became the 18th world champion in chess history. To further pile pressure on him, former world champions like Garry Kasparov and Magnus Carlsen have pointed out how Javokhir Sindarov, who will be the challenger to Gukesh for the world champion’s throne later this year, will be the favorite given his recent form that helped him win the Candidates tournament in Cyprus without a single defeat in 14 rounds. Some of the comments have appeared to undermine Gukesh’s credentials as a worthy world champion. Carlsen, in particular, commented on Gukesh’s “very obvious weaknesses when it comes to his understanding” in a recent event. Carlsen had even said that Sindarov would be the favourite against Gukesh. When five-time world champion and Gukesh’s mentor, …

After Vaishali’s Candidates win, her guru RB Ramesh warns: ‘She can do even better’ | Chess News

After Vaishali’s Candidates win, her guru RB Ramesh warns: ‘She can do even better’ | Chess News

Published by Webster

Barely two days after Vaishali Rameshbabu secured the right to challenge Ju Wenjun at the Women’s World Championship, her long-time guru RB Ramesh has an assessment about the Indian prodigy that should worry the rest of the world: she’s not realised her full potential yet. Far from it! “Chess-wise, I would still say both Praggnanandhaa and Vaishali have not shown all their strength on the board,” Ramesh tells The Indian Express from Cyprus where he rushed after Vaishali’s title was confirmed. “The feeling I always have is that they could still do better. There are still some parts of them that have not realized themselves what they are capable of. So that is something I’m waiting to see.” Vaishali entered the Candidates as the lowest rated player in the eight-woman field, and despite winning the event in a thrilling photo-finish in the final round, she still leaves Cyprus as the lowest-rated player. As she has highlighted in multiple conversations since winning the Candidates, the past two years have seen her experience some wretched form which …

Gukesh cuts short on competitions ahead of World C’ship defence

Gukesh cuts short on competitions ahead of World C’ship defence

Published by Webster

World chess champion D Gukesh has withdrawn from all classical events of the Grand Chess Tour 2026, opting to scale back his schedule in a bid to regain form after a challenging run of results. The 19-year-old confirmed that he will instead participate only in the Rapid and Blitz events in Warsaw and Zagreb, following discussions with the tournament organisers. “My performance in the last few events has been quite disappointing, not just for me, but for all of you who support me,” Gukesh said in a statement. He added that the decision was taken in consultation with his team to reduce competitive intensity and prioritise training. “We feel it is in my best interest to skip long events away from home to allow for more dedicated training time,” he said, while also thanking the Grand Chess Tour organisers for accommodating his request. My performance in the last few events has been quite disappointing, not just for me, but for all of you who support me. In order to find my best form my team …

What is the ‘Grand Prix’ attack that helped R Praggnanandhaa defeat Anish Giri? ‘Playable line and took my opponent out of theory’ | Chess News

What is the ‘Grand Prix’ attack that helped R Praggnanandhaa defeat Anish Giri? ‘Playable line and took my opponent out of theory’ | Chess News

Published by Webster

3 min readUpdated: Mar 30, 2026 05:18 PM IST It was a rare pawn attack, and a rather unexpected line that surprised Anish Giri in his opener against R Praggnanandhaa as the Indian took a whole 1 point on Day 1 at the Candidates at Cyprus. Chess.com dubbed the win induced by the Grand Prix Attack – an aggressive variant of the Sicilian Defence – as the cleanest win of the day, with Pragg playing with white. The idea of the Grand Prix Attack was to keep attacking the Black’s King with an early f-pawn push, and an eventual long castle by Giri saw him walk right into the trap, after positions had looked fairly equal. Said to have originated in 1800 in London, chessdoctrine.com, cites two instances of the Grand Prix leading to a sharp situation: one involving Pragg in 2021 against Aryan Tari. Another dates back to Anand vs Kasparov in 1994. It is said to throw up 38 % wins for Black as against 26 % for white, though in amateurs its …

What is the ‘Grand Prix’ attack that helped R Praggnanandhaa defeat Anish Giri? ‘Playable line and took my opponent out of theory’ | Chess News

What is the ‘Grand Prix’ attack that helped R Praggnanandhaa defeat Anish Giri? ‘Playable line and took my opponent out of theory’ | Cricket News

Published by Webster

3 min readMar 30, 2026 04:15 PM IST It was a rare pawn attack, and a rather unexpected line that surprised Anish Giri in his opener against R Praggnanandhaa as the Indian took a whole 1 point on Day 1 at the Candidates at Cyprus. Chess.com dubbed the win induced by the Grand Prix Attack – an aggressive variant of the Sicilian Defence – as the cleanest win of the day, with Pragg playing with white. The idea of the Grand Prix Attack was to keep attacking the Black’s King with an early f-pawn push, and an eventual long castle by Giri saw him walk right into the trap, after positions had looked fairly equal. Said to have originated in 1800 in London, chessdoctrine.com, cites two instances of the Grand Prix leading to a sharp situation: one involving Pragg in 2021 against Aryan Tari. Another dates back to Anand vs Kasparov in 1994. It is said to throw up 38 % wins for Black as against 26 % for white, though in amateurs its 49 …

What is the ‘Grand Prix’ attack that helped R Praggnanandhaa defeat Anish Giri? ‘Playable line and took my opponent out of theory’ | Chess News

What is the ‘Grand Prix’ attack that helped R Praggnanandhaa defeat Anish Giri? ‘Playable line and took my opponent out of theory’ | Chess News

Published by Webster

3 min readUpdated: Mar 30, 2026 05:18 PM IST It was a rare pawn attack, and a rather unexpected line that surprised Anish Giri in his opener against R Praggnanandhaa as the Indian took a whole 1 point on Day 1 at the Candidates at Cyprus. Chess.com dubbed the win induced by the Grand Prix Attack – an aggressive variant of the Sicilian Defence – as the cleanest win of the day, with Pragg playing with white. The idea of the Grand Prix Attack was to keep attacking the Black’s King with an early f-pawn push, and an eventual long castle by Giri saw him walk right into the trap, after positions had looked fairly equal. Said to have originated in 1800 in London, chessdoctrine.com, cites two instances of the Grand Prix leading to a sharp situation: one involving Pragg in 2021 against Aryan Tari. Another dates back to Anand vs Kasparov in 1994. It is said to throw up 38 % wins for Black as against 26 % for white, though in amateurs its …

What is the ‘Grand Prix’ attack that helped R Praggnanandhaa defeat Anish Giri? ‘Playable line and took my opponent out of theory’ | Chess News

Why Maxime Vachier-Lagrave demoted Praggnanandhaa to the 3rd rung in his tier-list for Candidates | Chess News

Published by Webster

5 min readUpdated: Mar 20, 2026 09:06 PM IST French grandmaster Maxime Vachier-Lagrave has put India’s R Praggnanandhaa in the third tier in his ‘tier-list’ for the upcoming Candidates tournament where he has analysed and ranked all the eight players in the open Candidates event. The French grandmaster made the comments in a conversation on the Chess with Mustreader YouTube channel, where he also accepted that his opinion about Pragg was a bit of a “hot take”. Vachier-Lagrave started his tier list by pointing out that he did not “discount anyone” winning the title, pointing out that if the Candidates were held 25 times with the same set of players, all of the eight players would win the event at least once. Before we get to what Vachier-Lagrave said about Pragg, here’s a look at his tier list (where S is favourite while A, B and C are in descending order of chances the players have of winning the Candidates according to Vachier-Lagrave): Here is Maxime Vachier-Lagrave’s tier list: Tier S: Fabiano Caruana Tier A: …

Gukesh apologises to fans: ‘This event is kind of tough for me… some days just want to be left alone’ | Chess News

Gukesh apologises to fans: ‘This event is kind of tough for me… some days just want to be left alone’ | Chess News

Published by Webster

2 min readMar 5, 2026 07:16 PM IST World champion D Gukesh managed to halt his streak of losses with a draw against Parham Maghsoodloo in the seventh round of the Prague International Chess Festival 2026. After the draw, the youngest world champion in chess history was seen sharing a rare chuckle with his opponent from Iran. Later, while giving an interview to the official YouTube handle of the tournament, Gukesh explained why he was occasionally not signing autographs and then apologised to his fans. “I really appreciate all the fans coming here everyday. But I want to apologize to them—this tournament has been tough for me and on some days, I just want to be left alone. I generally make sure to give autographs and photographs after the game, but I haven’t been in a great mood here. I apologize for that, but the support really means a lot to me,” Gukesh told woman grandmaster Keti Tsatsalashvili in an interview. Gukesh is yet to win a game at the Prague tournament, losing three games …